I was discussing my love of salads with my freind the other day. Salads are so refreshing and delicious and usually are filled with healthy ingredients. I could almost live off of salads. My kids' favorite types of salads are anything with beets, as they are by far my kids' favorite vegetable.It's funny, but growing up, even though we had beets a lot, I only ever knew one way to make them- my mom's recipe is with cooked beets, scallions, and I forget what else. But I never even thought about being adventerous with beets, let alone serving them raw, until I ran my own household and saw just how cheap beets were during the fall and winter months.
Speaking of winter, during the colder weather, when root vegetables are what's in season, it's hard to know what type of refreshing salad to make with them. Raw beet salad is a sure win, in my opinion. It has the crunch I love and lots of delicious flavor, and since it's raw, it has the refreshing summery feel to it, missing in many of the standard winter dishes.
I made this beet salad this morning, and sampled a bit. Anneliese, 21 months, saw what I was eating, and asked for some as well. I gave her a few spoonfuls, but she quickly finished them and demanded more, stuffing her face with them. Anneliese approves of this recipe.
You can make it sweeter if you want, by using more sweetener, but in my opinion, it's just as good with less sweetener.
Raw Beet Salad Recipe- Sugar Free, Vegan Option
Ingredients:3 large beets
3 green apples
1 1/2 oranges or 2 clementines
1 small onion, or half a medium onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vinegar- white wine, red wine, apple cider vinegar, kombucha vinegar, or white vinegar
1/4 cup oil- ideally a non strongly flavored oil, but olive oil is also ok in a pinch
2-3 tablespoons honey, coconut sugar, jaggery, or white sugar
Instructions:
1. Peel and grate the beets.
2. Chop the apples small.
3. Dice the garlic and the onions small.
4. Peel and chop the orange/clementine segments into 2 or 3.
5. Add the rest of the ingredients.
6. Let marinate for 30 minutes, then adjust the flavors as necessary.
Enjoy!
What is your favorite way to make beets? Do you eat salads in the winter? With winter veggies, or expensive summer veggies? What is your favorite winter veggie salad?
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I've probably posted this before, but my absolute favorite use for beets is Crescent Dragonwagon's Shocking Pasta:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.freshdirect.com/shared/recipe_print.jsp?recipeId=rec_wk_shk_psta_beets
It's worth posting again :) I'm not a winter-salad person, it's too cold here, so soups and such are good.
My favourite way to eat beets has been to steam/boil, peel, chop and add lemon juice and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Just this week I read an article about what vegetables were better to eat cooked or raw. Beets have superior nutritional value when eaten raw. I had never thought they even COULD be eaten raw so your recipe is timely. With beets in the fridge I only need to buy apples and oranges.
ReplyDeleteI live in the most southern part of Canada and we have greenhouse vegetables all year round. My favourite winter salad is a roasted dish of roma tomatoes, garlic, anchovies, hot pepper flakes and olive oil. It can be eaten hot, warm or at room temperature. It can be eaten as a salad (antipasto) or as a topping with hot pasta.